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About this lesson

After experimenting with the Offset Paths feature we can use the Blend Tool to give the illusion of 3D extruded text by adding depth.

Quick reference

Extruded Text

After experimenting with the Offset Paths feature we can use the Blend Tool to give the illusion of 3D extruded text by adding depth.

When to use

If you want to create a long shadow effect or an extruded effect you can use the Blend Tool in Illustrator.

Instructions

  • Begin by opening the Extruded Text - Exercise.ai file
  • We will start off by deleting the black and orange 'Bulls' text from the previous section leaving our live type and the orange, expanded version
  • Select both of the live fonts with your Selection Tool (V) and then cut them
  • Add a New Layer and paste both of the live fonts before renaming the layer to 'Live Type'
  • Select the 'Ragin' text from the Live Type layer and press Command/Ctrl+C to copy it
  • Lock the Live Type layer and poke the eye out to turn the visibility of the layer off
  • Select the 'Fonts' layer below that contains our merged, expanded Bulls text
  • Paste the 'Ragin' type onto this layer
  • Convert the 'Ragin' type to outlines using the Type menu and choosing 'Create Outlines'
  • Open your Pathfinder Tool and merge the outlined shape together
  • Go to the Object Menu and choose Path > Offset Path and enter a value of 8px
  • Press Command/Ctrl+X to cut the offset copy
  • Select the original text and lock it by pressing Command/Ctrl+2 or by going to the Object Menu and choosing Lock > Selection
  • Paste the copy of your offset text in front by pressing Command/Ctrl+F
  • Merge this copy of the outlined text that has the offset applied and send it to the back by going to the Object Menu and choosing Arrange > Send to Back
  • You can now select the offset shape all the way in the back and use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to sample the dark red shadow color
  • Go to the Object Menu and choose 'Unlock All'
  • Select the front copy of the outlined 'Ragin' text and change the fill color to white
  • Zoom into the shape and use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to click and delete the white fills inside of the counters on the letters so you can see the orange color through them
  • Select the back orange copy of your offset text and copy it by pressing Command/Ctrl+C
  • Then, select both copies of your 'Ragin' text and lock them
  • Press Command/Ctrl+F to paste your dark orange text in front
  • Merge it together using the Pathfinder Tool to make it one solid shape
  • Next, copy this shape again and then paste it in front so you now have two copies on top of each other
  • With your top copy selected, tap it down and to the right while holding the Shift Key
  • Continue to hold the Shift Key and select the second copy of your dark orange text
  • Go to the Object Menu and choose Arrange > Send to Back
  • With both copies still selected and behind everything else, go to the Object Menu and choose Blend > Blend Options
  • Make sure that the Spacing is set to Specified Steps and enter a higher value somewhere around 140-150 and hit OK
  • Return to the Object Menu and choose Blend > Make
  • You will now have 140 instances of your text that are blended together, resulting in what looks like one solid extruded shape

Hints & tips

  • The Blend Tool is very useful for creating 3D text or producing long shadow effects
  • Remember to set the spacing to Specified Steps and use a relatively high number in your Blend Options
  • The keyboard shortcut for making a blend is Command/Ctrl+Alt/Option+B on the keyboard

 

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  • 00:05 So now that I've shown you guys the offset feature.
  • 00:07 Let me show you one more way that you can create some text effects.
  • 00:10 When you delete black BULLS text here,
  • 00:12 then select both of my other words on top, cut it by pressing Cmd+X.
  • 00:17 Create a new layer.
  • 00:19 Press Cmd+F to paste it in front.
  • 00:20 And then double-click on the layer name and change it to Live Type.
  • 00:25 This way we'll know that we have our active original fonts in place,
  • 00:28 and intact.
  • 00:29 Select your ragin text and press Cmd + C, then lock and
  • 00:32 disable the visibility for your live type layer.
  • 00:36 Come back to the fonts layer below and
  • 00:38 press Cmd+F on the keyboard to paste it in place.
  • 00:40 Now from here you wanna convert it to outlines by going up to type create
  • 00:44 outlines or by pressing Cmd+Shift+L, and then let's go ahead and
  • 00:48 bring our path finder.
  • 00:50 Now from here I'm just going to merge it, once again.
  • 00:53 And now I'll come up to the object menu and choose path, offset paths.
  • 00:57 Let's try a value of about 8 pixels.
  • 01:03 Now I can press Cmd+X to cut it.
  • 01:06 Select my original text and lock it by coming up to Object > Lock > Selection.
  • 01:11 And I'll paste it in front by pressing Cmd+F.
  • 01:14 Now I should be able to bring up my pathfinder once again.
  • 01:18 And before I merge anything, let me just send this all the way to the back.
  • 01:21 All right, and now I can choose Merge, and
  • 01:23 I should have a copy back here along with my original text in front.
  • 01:26 But it's a little hard to tell right now because they're the same color.
  • 01:30 So I'm going to select the outermost copy, which should be our expanded version.
  • 01:35 Grab my eyedropper tool then sample this red color.
  • 01:38 And you can now kinda see the difference here.
  • 01:41 All right, so come up to Object, unlock everything so
  • 01:44 that you can select your front copy of the text here, and then make it white.
  • 01:48 All right,
  • 01:49 and it looks like we may have to come in here with our direct selection tool,
  • 01:52 kind of try to guess where the counter for the letter is, somewhere in here.
  • 01:56 And then we're just going to delete it Okay, so if I just click in here,
  • 02:05 I should be able to delete that space, but you want to click in the center.
  • 02:10 There we go. All right, so now we have our offset text,
  • 02:13 but I wanna show you guys how you can blend this.
  • 02:17 So if I select my back copy here and press Cmd+C, I will have a copy of it.
  • 02:21 When you selext both of these copies of texts here and lock it and press Cmd+F, so
  • 02:26 that we're now just dealing with our copy.
  • 02:29 And then I can merge it to make sure it's all one shape.
  • 02:33 From here, what I'm gonna do is press Cmd+C, Cmd+F, once again,
  • 02:36 to make a copy in front.
  • 02:38 And I'll just tap it down into the right a few times while holding the shift key.
  • 02:43 Now I can hold down the shift key, or continue holding the shift key and
  • 02:47 select both copies.
  • 02:49 Come up to Object > Arrange > Send to Back.
  • 02:52 And now both of these copies will be all the way behind our original two copies.
  • 02:56 So now that you have just those two copies selected,
  • 02:58 we're gonna come up to Object > Blend > Blend Options.
  • 03:01 And let's set it to Specified Steps with about 140 or
  • 03:05 a pretty high number like that and then hit OK.
  • 03:09 Now you can come back up to Object > Blend > Make.
  • 03:12 What this is going to do is create 140 copies or
  • 03:15 instances of the word ragin in between those two copies.
  • 03:19 So if I grab that now, I should be able to reduce the opacity and
  • 03:24 kind of create a shadow effect.
  • 03:27 All right, so when it's filled with a solid color, it looks 3D.
  • 03:32 But if you fill it with solid black and reduce the opacity,
  • 03:36 it'll be about the same opacity as the eyes.
  • 03:40 Okay, so this now creates our shadow effect.
  • 03:44 And that's a cool way that you can use the blend feature either for shadows, or
  • 03:47 you can leave it set to that same background color
  • 03:51 to now give it more of an expanded, extruded appearance.

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